Fire at Carrboro Apartment Complex Displaces Residents of 20 Units

UPDATE: This story has since been updated with information on the victim transported to the hospital due to smoke inhalation.

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Several residents of the Poplar Place apartment complex in Carrboro are displaced after a fire damaged more than a dozen units early Monday morning.

Carrboro fire officials reported a call for a fire at the complex, which is located off Old Fayetteville Road and Berryhill Drive, came shortly after 6 a.m. When crews arrived on the scene, firefighters found flames and smoke emitting from the roof of a 20-unit building.

The Carrboro Fire Department reported the roof collapsed amid its crews’ initial response, leading them to upgrade the blaze to a two-alarm fire and call more emergency services.

EMS transported one person to the hospital for smoke inhalation, according to town officials, while another person was treated on-scene.

According to the fire department, the 20 units in the building are not livable following the fire. Red Cross and UNC Housing are providing displacement assistance to the affected Poplar Place residents.

Carrboro Fire said the cause of Monday’s blaze is currently under investigation.

On Monday night, Eliazar Posada revealed on Facebook he was the victim transported to the hospital. Posada, who is the president and CEO of the local Latino nonprofit El Centro Hispano, said the fire caused him to lose “almost everything in the apartment.” Since then, co-workers at El Centro Hispano set up a GoFundMe to raise money to aid Posada. As of Tuesday morning, donors raised more than $7,000.

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